Amtrak trains to get 180 day notices after July 1s

[Guest]

I've been monitoring news outlets today and Amtrak's website. No annoucements. Perhaps the individual who started this thread could provide us with an explanation??

 

[AmtrakFan]

Maybe there waiting til later in the week to release the info.

 

[AlanB]

No personal attacks, Please!

Please just discuss the issues and the possibility or not of the LD's going away.

 

[AmtrakFan]

I still think this will happen and before we know it everything will be gone. Even though today wasn't D-Day we still need to be on alert.

 

[Guest]

I don't think this is a personal attack, but with all the inside information that BNSF has boasted having, I think he owes everyone some sort of inside explanation of when this is going to happen and why it didn't happen today.

We all saw what happened with the Mayor of Hammond, LA - and don't think there haven't been a lot more people thinking the same thing he was thinking - especially since someone in his region was predicting the demise of the only train Hammond has. Hammond also, was the saviour of the City of New Orleans during Katrina - acting as the humb of activity.

I for one am curious as to what is going to happen and look to BNSF to let us know.

 

[Everydaymatters]

The last news release on the Amtrak web site is dated June 28.

I, for one, don't believe that BNSF would irresponsibly make the statements he did without having heard it from someone. I'd be more inclined to believe that "someone" gave him faulty information.

I still have a wait and see attitude. I'm giving it until Friday to hear something before I discard it as a bad rumor.

 

[AlanB]

I don't think this is a personal attack, but with all the inside information that BNSF has boasted having, I think he owes everyone some sort of inside explanation of when this is going to happen and why it didn't happen today.

I have no problem with people posting questions, asking for clarification, posting valid statements, or drawing what conclusions they may from the info posted.

When I say personal attacks, I'm referring to a recent post by a guest now deleted, that resorted to childish name calling. I won't let this topic or any other for that matter, deteriorate into a slug fest with name calling and stuff like that. Right or wrong, everyone deserves to be treated with some respect. Name calling doesn't help anyone and it contributes nothing to the discussion.

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

So late getting back online today......darned internet problems (and didn't feel like playing the notebook/cell phone connection). Anyway, all was quiet today 07/03. I set a little time today to go and pay my local station a visit. I didn't really expect much today in light of the holiday weekend. Nothing much to note as far as the signifigance of the day is concerned, however, some train cancelations caught my eye for today! Here in the East train #97/02-03 was canceled. Both trains #52-03 and #53-03 were canceled as well. I am sure the situation with the Auto Train was to simply put it back on schedule, and today the July 3rd made the most sense as most everyone is where they need to be right now. I am not sure of the deal with #97. Both #92-03 and #98-03 operated out of MIA today , and the one SB train (#91-02) out of NYP operated through to MIA as well. Let's hope this is due to the weather situation in the North as well as the equipment turning issues.

It should be noted, however, many Amtrak officials (according to one of my traveling contacts) rode down to South Florida sometime late last week. According to my source who was working on board that day, many of those VIPs made up a lot of Amtrak's planning and infrastructure dept as well as what they (my on board source) could identify as representitives of a private company. They had their own private car to utilize for the trip, and the VIPs from the North were booked in sleepers overnight. Others stepped on enroute as the train made it into the South. I am told they overnighted in South Florida and returned the following day. I will persue this lead and provide any info if/when possible. Other than that, hopefully NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!!!! OBS...

 

[Sam Damon]

I'm with you on this one, OBS. No news is good news. Amtrak's timekeeping courtesy of the freight RRs is something that needs to be passed along to your elected federal representatives, IMO. I think if more of them knew about how UP and NS were screwing Amtrak on a daily basis, there might be some better micromanaging legislation -- like, gee, run the trains on-time? -- instead of the stuff concerning 1st class and SDS.

Might your source know if it was a RR private car, or just a garden-variety private car? If not, no biggie, just curious.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

Actually its time for politicians to bow out and let railroaders do the railroading.

the job of politicians is to fund Amtrak not run it.

If politicians had stayed out of railroading in general we would not be in the mess we are in now.

 

[AmtrakFan]

OBS,

I heard CSX was doing some Track Work Out East.

 

[Guest]

If politicians had stayed out of railroading in general we would not be in the mess we are in now.

And realistically, this forum would be superfluous, we would have had no LD trains after 1975.

 

[allan thomas]

http://www.narprail.org/default.asp?p=act%2Ehtm

What's New, June 30th, Senate subcommittee statement for the record, Statement of NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon concerning rail capacity and what role federal investment should play in solving these issues.

Maybe Mr Capon and Senator Lott got wind of all this and settled it all June the 30th... maybe!

I think we owe a lot to Senator Lott because he's about the only one "W" is afraid of.

Chef Allan Thomas

the "City of New Orleans"

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

http://www.narprail.org/default.asp?p=act%2EhtmWhat's New, June 30th, Senate subcommittee statement for the record, Statement of NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon concerning rail capacity and what role federal investment should play in solving these issues.

Maybe Mr Capon and Senator Lott got wind of all this and settled it all June the 30th... maybe!

I think we owe a lot to Senator Lott because he's about the only one "W" is afraid of.

Chef Allan Thomas

the "City of New Orleans"

Hey Allan you still working 58 and 59.

sent you a PM

 

[had8ley]

I still think its a hoax and on other board this was said about BNSF-1088 aka Save Our Trains Michigan/S.O.T. Mississippi: 

I'm late to the party, but I've gotten so ticked off by the BS postings of the "director" of these "groups" on T.O. and on Louisiana Railfan/Modeling Group, I wanted to share the results of a minimal amount of Googling.

 

BNSF1088 says "The way my groups have gotten to be where they are today is from a former Amtrak President who is no longer with the company." I can see why he's no longer with the company, as Save Our Trains Michigan own website shows they have a grand total of FIVE members (including the "director"). As for S.O.T. Mississippi, its website claims no members. Altho I could find no legitimate Miss. rail passenger advocacy organization, Michigan has the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers, Inc., an honest-to-goodness 501©(3) corporation whose board of directors is larger than the "director's" Michigan membership roster.

 

It's too bad good thread space is taken up with the mad-hatter ramblings of the "director." If anything he says comes to pass, it will only prove the old adage that even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Funny thing...how do you devote time to saving trains in Michigan and Mississippi at the same time? I don't think you travel to both places by train every week. Are these just titles to "get you in the door?" <_<

 

[AlanB]

If politicians had stayed out of railroading in general we would not be in the mess we are in now.

And realistically, this forum would be superfluous, we would have had no LD trains after 1975.

Actually we need a bit of both IMHO. We need Congress to stay involved and to start funding things properly. However, we also need Congress as well as the DOT to stop micro-managing things. I'm not saying that Amtrak management shouldn't be held accountable, they should.

But Congress shouldn't be the ones deciding how Amtrak should cut costs, unless it's to change work rules. This nonsense of worrying about food service loosing a little more than $100M a year, while they hand over close to $1.4 Billion, is almost like the little boy sticking his finger in the dike and trying to keep it from failing and flooding the village.

Congress should be demanding realistic and undertandable financial statements, something that David Gunn actually started providing them. David Gunn was so good at that, that one of Amtrak's harshest critics John McCain, was even saying nice things about David Gunn. But beyond that, other than authorizing realistic funding, that should be the end of their involvement.

They shouldn't be demanding specific targeted areas for improvement, unless it's to perhaps address the top heavy management structure.

 

[AlanB]

Funny thing...how do you devote time to saving trains in Michigan and Mississippi at the same time? I don't think you travel to both places by train every week. Are these just titles to "get you in the door?" <_<

The wonders of the internet.

 

[jccollins]

Matt used to live in Michigan and founded the grassroots support campaign for Amtrak called Save Our Trains Michigan. When he moved to Mississippi he started a campaign to save Amtrak there... thus Save Our Trains Mississippi was born. I only know this because he explained it in a post on the forum here a year or so ago.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

Ask Matt how many members both his organisations have, and if he is affiliated with any other pro rail organisations.

Cause nobody at NARP or other organisations knows of him.

just curious.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Ask Matt how many members both his organisations have, and if he is affiliated with any other pro rail organisations.Cause nobody at NARP or other organisations knows of him.

just curious.

It does not mater how many members we have we were never setup to have members we are an information group that gets the message out to the public we have NO RESTRICTIONS like NARP or the other State Organizations.

That's why we are not 501c if we would go to that we would have a lot of restrictions to follow such as getting information out to the public.

I would like any one of you that has time to bash any pro rail group try to do our job to keep Amtrak afloat year to year.

I don't need to be in Michigan to run that group i do it VIA e mails and phone calls which is 90% of my day when i am not at work.

You can say what you want about our groups but we are a lot bigger than what Goggle says.

 

[Chatter163]

OK, now that the prognosticator has broken his conspicuous silence, does he have the wherewithal to comment on his repeated and somewhat audacious predictions from "well-connected" sources? <_<

 

[Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee]

OK, now that the prognosticator has broken his conspicuous silence, does he have the wherewithal to comment on his repeated and somewhat audacious predictions from "well-connected" sources? <_<

As I said earlier.................. NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!!!!!! Consider it that for now!!! And maybe just maybe the "guy" had to work and has been unavailable!!!! Hello???? OBS...

 

[Guest_JAChooChoo]

As of right now Amtrak trains 1-8 and trains 58-59 will get there 180 day notices after July 1st 2006

Lets be fair, after all, he said after July 1, and that was correct - nothing happened before then.

Secondly, he did not specify a date. So it can still happen.

 

Actually, it would be great if it happened - it would force action. In an election year, with the balance in Congress a real cliffhanger, I think there would be action to maintain the Amtrak status quo.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

I’ve heard the sky-is-falling predictions surrounding Amtrak for years. Having observed they are, for the most part, highly unreliable, especially if they come from the sundry “save the trains” organizations, I’ve learned to ignore the ramblings and make my reservations as I wish. But Amtrak is my default transportation mode which is in sharp contrast to the casual observer of this forum who may be looking here for information in anticipation of taking the train for the first time. The cry-wolf predictions do not serve the cause of the “save-the-trainers.” Passengers paying cash serve their cause. The value this forum offers the casual visitor contemplating rail travel for the first time is the wealth of information that can properly frame the experience: that can demonstrate what typically goes wrong as well as what might, in extreme cases, go wrong.

 

[Foodman53]

Seems to me that we've spent too much time and energy "beating up" one of our posters....rather than focusing on the facts at hand....i.e......as Amtrak OBS Employee says...."no news is good news!!"

As I troll the internet, I see that crude oil has risen to over $76 per barrel. Sadly, it's just a testimony as to what our government "hasn't" done for Amtrak since its inception 35 years ago.

BNSF1088 may be misled...or, he may be right on. The truth is we have a transportation crisis in this nation, which could be fixed by two days' expenditures of the Iraq war. Our....our nation, and/or it's leadership's...priorities are out of whack!!

Let's stay focused!!

From the "Florida Funnel"

Foodman 53